Vehicle with passenger seats

ABSTRACT

A passenger vehicle having an enclosed passenger compartment containing a passenger seat. The floor of the vehicle is the floor of the compartment and is attached to the passenger seat. To facilitate passenger entrance and exit from the compartment, the floor and attached seat pivot to lower the floor. The canopy cover over the compartment elevates and the side door of the compartment opens to permit passenger entrance and exit.

United States Patent Steiner et al.

VEHICLE WITH PASSENGER SEATS lnventors: Daniel Steiner, Schaffhausen;Ernst Bliichlinger, Neuhausen, both of Switzerland Schweizerischelndustr'ie Gesellschaft, Neuhausen, Switzerland Filed: Sept. 17, 1971Appl. No.: 181,505

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 24, 1970 Austria A 8632/70 Aug.27, 1971 Austria A 7522/71 US. Cl 296/63, 296/68, 296/164 Int. Cl Bnl/04 Field of Search 296/146, 63, 68,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Archer 104/122 x 1 Sept. 18, 19733,044,645 7/1962 Smith .1 214/ X 2,751,027 6/1965 McLaughlin 297/217 X945,748 1/1910 Butler et a1. 104/122 2,822,055 2/1958 Ludowici /11 X3,488,086 1/1970 Himka et a1. 296/65 R 3,542,417 11/1970 Mohs 296/146Primary Examiner-Benjamin Hersh Assistant Examiner-John A. PekarAttorney-E. J. Berry et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A passenger vehicle having an enclosed passengercompartment containing a passenger seat. The floor of the vehicle is thefloor of the compartment and is attached to the passenger seat. Tofacilitate passenger entrance and exit from the compartment, the floorand attached seat pivot to lower the floor. The canopy cover over thecompartment elevates and the side door of the compartment opens topermit passenger entrance and exit.

10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENTEU SE?! a ma sum 1 or 2 FIG.

VEHICLE WITH PASSENGER SEATS The present invention concerns a vehiclewith passenger seats.

In vehicles, particularly those in which accelerations of more thanabout 0.8 metre/sec arise at starting, braking and in travelllingthrough sharp bends, it is desirable-that the passengers should haveseats providing a flat sitting position, such as are today usual inmotor cars. Such seats, having a seat height of about twelve inches anda rearward-sloping back, possibly in conjunction with a slightlyforward-rising footboard, ensure a comfortable support of thepassenger's body and also a low centre of gravity in the occupiedvehicle even when acceleration effects arise.

The drawback of this seat arrangement is that particularly handicappedand elderly people lacking agility have trouble in seating themselvesand especially in rising again and often require another person s aid.In the case of low-roofed vehicles, it is necessary to manoeuvre oneselfinto the seat sideways, as is generally in practice with present-dayclosed motor cars, In roofless or .open vehicles, one might step intothe car upright, but must still rise again from a very low seat height.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the aforesaiddrawbacks by providing a system wherein the vehicle floor is lowerableto the roadway for the purpose of passenger change.

An embodiment of the invention claimed hereunder is now to be describedby way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a side view of the vehicle, with its floors lowered to theroadway for passenger change;

FIG. 2 shows a top view of the vehicle according to FIG. 1, with partsof the roof removed;

FIG. 3 shows a side view of the vehicle with its floors raised, readyfor travelling;

FIG. 4 shows a top view of the vehicle according to FIG. 3, with partsof the roof removed;

FIG. 5 shows a side view of part of the vehicle, with its floors andseats ready for travelling, and, indicated by broken lines, with itsfloors lowered to the road-way and its seats tilted forwards forpassenger change.

FIGS. 1 to 5 show a single-axle vehicle 1 with two wheels 3. Inside, thevehicle presents front passenger seatsS and rear passenger seats 7 and,accordingly, a front floor 9 tiltable about an axis 11 and a rear floor13 lowerable in elevator fashion by electrical, mechani cal, pneumaticor hydraulic means, for instance, The vehicle 1 is further provided witha front roof part 15 and a rear roof part 17, shown opened in FIG. 1.Let

For boarding and alighting, the roof parts 15, 17 are opened upwards, asshown in FIG. 1, and the floors 9, 13 are lowered mechanically,hydraulically or electrically; in this, the front floor 9 tilts aboutits axis 11, while the rear floor is lowered to the roadway 27 inelevator fashion. At the same time, the front and rear doors 19, 21 areopened. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the passengers 25 are boarding theempty front of the vehicle 1 and alighting from the rear, respectively.They can easily seat themselves on the seats 5, as the distance betweenseat and floor is sufficiently large. Also, the passengers alightinghave no trouble in rising from the seats 7 with the floor 13 loweredAfter passenger change, the floors 9, 13 are lifted, as shown in FIGS. 3and 4, so that the passengers are seated comfortably in a semi-recliningmanner, owing to the foot-resting level of the lifted floors 9, 13 andthe sloping seat backs, making travelling very pleasant even at highaccelerations. Control of the movable floors 9, 13 can beaction-connected to the opening and closing mechanism of the vehicledoors 19, 21 and- /or the movable roof parts l5, 17.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the passenger seats 5 and 7 arejoined to the floors 9 and 13, respectively. They can be tilted aboutthe axes 11 and 12, so that in the lowered position, i.e. for passengerchange, they take up the position indicated by the broken lines. Thismakes alighting easier for the passenger and also prevents any sharpfalling-back in sitting down. As shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to tiltthe back and head rest joined to the seat with the seat itself, or toarrange these parts for separate tilting for extra positional adjustmentwith respect to the actual seats.

Such a vehicle with lowerable floor and especially in conjunction withsuitably arranged doors and an upward-opening roof permits evenhandicapped passengers to board, sit down, rise ansd alight without anytrouble, even when the vehicle has a low system height. Anotheradvantage is that there is no need for raised ramps, as the floor whenlowered is practically level with the ground.

into both side walls of the vehicle 1 are windows 23. r

The ,vehicle shown provides room for four passengers 25, shown on thepoint of boarding and alighting, re-

spectively. It can be designed as a steerable power vehicle or as atrailer. It travels on a roadway 27. The ground clearance of the floors9, 13 is indicated by H, the floor thickness by h. The seat height is S.One of the side walls of the vehicle 1 can be closed by a front hingedand folding door19 and a rear hinged and folding door 21. The other sidewall 34 is of a piece, except for the window openings. With the doors 19and 21 closed, the cross-memebers 35 joined to the side wall 34'formwith the latter a frame sufficiently strong to give the passengers goodprotection in collision. This frame-construction is essential, as therelatively thin and movable floors 9, '13 cannot resist any majorimpact. The doors 19 and 21 are therefore reinforced.

We claim:

1. A ground vehicle comprising: an enclosed passenger compartment; atleast one passenger seat in said compartment; said compartment having afloor; said compartment having support means connected with said floorfor normally supporting said floor above road level and for selectivelylowering said floor to ground level and raising it to compartment levelto facilitate entrance and exit from said vehicle; and said seat beingattached in said compartment just above said floor.

2. Vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the movablevehicle floor is operated by one of mechanical, electrical, pneumatic orhydraulic means.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein said vehicle compartment has adoor'means which is openable and said pivot from road level to aboveroad level, and vice versa.

6. The vehicle of claim 5, further comprising: means for selectivelyraising and lowering said seat to correspond with movement of saidfloor.

7. The vehicle of claim 5, wherein said seat is connected with saidfloor so as to be pivotable therewith and said seat is so oriented withrespect to said pivoting floor that said seat is movable between atilted back and up posiiton when said floor is raised and a tiltedforward and down position when said floor is lowered.

8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein said vehicle compartment has a doormeans which is openable and which is connected with said floor so as toopen when said floor lowers and to close when said' floor raises.

9. The vehicle of claim 8, wherein said door means comprises a side doornext to said seat and a roof above said seat, both of which open andclose together.

10. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein there are two said seats in saidcompartment; said floor being in separately movable sections, with eachsaid section being just beneath its respective said seat and each saidfloor section having respective supporting means and being separatelypivotable and supported by its respective said supporting means.

1. A ground vehicle comprising: an enclosed passenger compartment; atleast one passenger seat in said compartment; said compartment having afloor; said compartment having support means connected with said floorfor normally supporting said floor above road level and for selectivelylowering said floor to ground level and raising it to compartment levelto facilitate entrance and exit from said vehicle; and said seat beingattached in said compartment just above said floor.
 2. Vehicle accordingto claim 1, characterized in that the movable vehicle floor is operatedby one of mechanical, electrical, pneumatic or hydraulic means.
 3. Thevehicle of claim 1, wherein said vehicle compartment has a door meanswhich is openable and which is connected with said floor so as to openwhen said floor lowers and to close when said floor raises.
 4. Thevehicle of claim 1, wherein there are two said seats in saidcompartment; said floor being in separately movable sections, with eachsaid section being just beneath its respective said seat and each saidfloor section having respective supportiNg means and being separatelylowerable by its said supporting means.
 5. The vehicle of claim 1,wherein said supporting means is a horizontal pivot and said floorpivots about said pivot from road level to above road level, and viceversa.
 6. The vehicle of claim 5, further comprising: means forselectively raising and lowering said seat to correspond with movementof said floor.
 7. The vehicle of claim 5, wherein said seat is connectedwith said floor so as to be pivotable therewith and said seat is sooriented with respect to said pivoting floor that said seat is movablebetween a tilted back and up posiiton when said floor is raised and atilted forward and down position when said floor is lowered.
 8. Thevehicle of claim 7, wherein said vehicle compartment has a door meanswhich is openable and which is connected with said floor so as to openwhen said floor lowers and to close when said floor raises.
 9. Thevehicle of claim 8, wherein said door means comprises a side door nextto said seat and a roof above said seat, both of which open and closetogether.
 10. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein there are two said seatsin said compartment; said floor being in separately movable sections,with each said section being just beneath its respective said seat andeach said floor section having respective supporting means and beingseparately pivotable and supported by its respective said supportingmeans.